Switzerland considers Vietnam an important partner in Southeast Asia , said Swiss President Doris Leuthard.

The European country will continue including Vietnam in its list of recipients for annual official development assistance (ODA), she said in a meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in Davos on Jan. 28.

During the meeting, PM Dung and President Doris Leuthard expressed their pleasure with the development of their friendship and multi-faceted cooperation.

Regular exchanges of visits by high-level delegations between the two countries have created a driving force for cooperation in many areas, especially economics, trade and investment, they said.

Despite the global economic downturn, two-way trade has reached about 3 billion USD in 2009, up 20 percent against the previous year. Switzerland’s investment in Vietnam was 1.4 billion USD.

Noting that there exists a great amount of untapped potential for economic-trade and investment cooperation, President Doris Leuthard expressed her support and willingness to facilitate business ties and investment flow between the two countries, for their mutual benefit, particularly in the encouragement of Swiss firms to invest and do business in Vietnam .

PM Dung said Vietnam attaches importance to and creates favourable conditions for Swiss enterprises to conduct business and undertake investments in a long-term and stable environment, particularly in tourism, banking and finance, and technology.

He asked Switzerland to recognise Vietnam as a market economy, creating the conditions for the Southeast Asian nation to effectively participate in the system of multilateral trade and expand economic and investment ties with Switzerland.

The PM expressed deep appreciation for Swiss ODA, commitment in 2010 amounting to more than 21 million USD, affirming that his country will effectively use the resource in the prioritised areas of poverty reduction, grassroots healthcare, rural development and environmental protection.

He said he hoped the Swiss government would continue its good will by contributing ODA to new areas such as institutional development, human resources development and adapting to climate change in the coming years.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung is in Davos for the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum./.